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Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Review

Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H Testing:

LAN performance will be tested via a pair of utilities to gauge the performance of the on board network solutions. The motherboard being tested will be connected via a Gigabit switch to another system with an integrated Gigabit network solution on board.

iPerf: is a small lightweight utility run from the command prompt and can be used to "measure both TCP and UDP performance on a network. IPerf is cross platform software and open source." The test is configured to run for 20 seconds with a window size of 256 KB and four simultaneous streams that should be able to saturate the TCP link on a good NIC.

Rightmark Audio Analyzer 6.25 is used to test the sound solution on board each motherboard. Nothing beats a good set of ears and headphones but this is a graphic representation of the capabilities of the installed hardware. Sampling mode is 24bit 44kHz.

Intel DZ87KLT-75

MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming

ASUS ROG M6H

ASUS Z87-PLUS

MSI MPower MAX

ASUS ROG M6E

ECS Z87H3-A2X Gank Machine

Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H

Frequency Response dB

+3.65,-2.33

+0.52,+ 0.30

+0.23,+0.12

-0.01, -0.07

+0.12,-0.10

+0.42-+0.03

+0.46,+0.04

+0.32, +0.12

Noise Level dBA

-91.3

-91.3

-91.5

-85.3

-93.6

-99.8

-94.0

-77.8

Dynamic Range dBA

91.3

91.2

91.5

85.4

93.5

99.6

94.0

77.8

Total Harmonic distortion %

0.481

0.131

0.436

0.0059

0.131

0.463

0.130

.131

Intermodulation distortion +noise

1.393

0.259

0.365

0.019

0.259

0.463

0.262

.258

Stereo Crosstalk,db

-69.7

-91.6

-89.2

-84.9

-91.2

-94.9

-.92.2

-77.5

Intermodulation distortion + noise (Swept Freq) %

0.465

.323

.311

.017

.324

.430

.323

.326

Frequency Response (Swept Sine), db

+1.3,-2.4

+0.1,-0.1

+0.0,-0.1

+0.0, -0.0

+0.1,-0.1

+0.1, -0.2

+0.1, -0.1

+0.1, -0.1

All results were very close, but the Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H produced the best results on LAN performance using iPerf. The Ethernet LAN port is an Intel Gigabit version with high ESD Protection; this is to help keep the system protected from electrical surges and direct lightning strikes according to Gigabyte. RightMark Audio Analyzer shows better than average distortion and good frequency response.